Christmas is coming...

We have been busy putting the finishing touches on this years Christmas ornament collection and today we can finally announce that....Our new 2011 Holiday Collection will be online this Friday December 2nd. Hooray!
Here is a peek at a few of the new ornament designs you can expect to see.






See you all on Friday!
Lianne & Paul

In the Studio: Embellishing ornaments for a Craft show

We have been busy busy busy working around the clock gearing up for our craft show this Saturday. There is still sooooo much more to do before Saturday. Today in the studio is all about adding embellishments to our ornaments with paper messages, 3-D paint, bells and lots and lots of GLITTER.

Enjoy the peek into the studio.


We have to set up extra tables around the studio so we can spread out the ornaments to dry.


A spool of wax twine works great for making bows and stringing paper messages on two of our new designs this season.


It's not Christmas around here without the return of Swirly the snowman. This year he is in tones of pinks and reds which was inspired by the color of candy canes.

For anyone who lives in the area and wants to check out the collection early, we will be doing our first Holiday craft show of the season, on Saturday November 19th at the Wellesley Marketplace, here in MA.

We are also going to try and Facebook book through out the day on Saturday about all the goings on of our craft show so make sure you stop by our Facebook page.

Have a good weekend!

Gobble these up before they are gone

Thanks for all the nice feedback we are getting for the Turkey greeting holder we created for Polyform. We are so happy people are enjoying the how-to projects we are making.
Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays to decorate, even if it's only up for a few weeks.

We couldn't help ourselves and went a little over board making the samples so we thought we would offer a limited number of these little turkeys to you. Perfect for a hostess gift or to display family photos (see below) along your table. The Turkeys are all SOLD OUT!

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Holiday How-to Thanksgiving: Let's talk some turkey!

Thanksgiving Treat!
Here is another seasonal how-to project we created with Polyform for their website.
Take a little break from all that cooking preparation and try making one or all of these designs to adorn your Thanksgiving table.

Even though we called these place card holders they are so versatile and can be used for many creative holiday ideas like... for a menu card for your buffet station or dessert table to identify your pies or you can display family photos along your table runner or just as a Thanksgiving greeting.

How neat would these make for a house warming gift to celebrate the Autumn season.


You can create just one turkey or even better a whole rafter of them. Your guests will be so impressed knowing you made these yourself.


Make a half dozen of these cute acorns to showcase your kids' artwork along your table.


Make one on these Pilgrim hats for each place setting or have your guests write down all the things they are thankful for and display them.

We would love to hear your thoughts on this how-to project. You can leave a comment below or on our facebook page.

And for any of our clay-challenged followers—who we love very much ;)— we did create a few extra Turkeys holders that we will we have for sale this Friday on our website!

Gobble... Gobble... Gobble!

For the birds!

We survived! What you ask, did we survive? Turning our clocks back!! I don't know about you, but this pesky little thing we do in fall is quite literally "for the birds"! We have so many clocks to make sure we turn back, it can drive us bonkers. BUT we did it and now we are settling into the days getting darker MUCH earlier. Winter is right around the corner.

And with the cold weather upon us we thought it would be a good idea to make a few bird feeders to hang in our yard to help our little birdie friends during the colder months.

We wanted to do something inexpensive and easy that our 6 year old would enjoy helping with.

The only supplies we used were a liter seltzer bottle, wooden spoons, birdseed and some twine.




We got a 4lb bag of birdseed for $1.32.



We started out by having our son mark where the holes go for the spoons. Basically the spoons act as perches for the birds and the seeds spill out onto the flat part of the spoon. We cut out the holes with a sharp pair of scissors. The spoons were cheap too...a pack of 4 for $1!



Once the spoons were put in the bottle it was time to fill 'er up! The 6 year old thought this was the best part because he got to use a scoop and a funnel! Be sure to use a pan with a lip to catch any spills!

The last step before hanging is to insert an eye screw to the cap of the bottle and then you are ready to add your twine to hang.



Now off to go find places to hang them! We made two, so we put one in the back yard and one in the front. We'll see which place draws more of a "crowd".



Here he is checking out his handy work.



And lo and behold, our first feathered friends! Here is a little chickadee munching on the seeds and the photo below shows a bluejay checking out the seeds that have fallen from the feeder. He's in the lower right of the picture.



So for a little over $3 we think that this is a great project for little ones to do. It teaches them about wildlife and responsibility. We told him that he has to make sure to check the feeders often because the birds will come to rely on them and not to let them get empty. We also are hoping the squirrels don't get to the seed before the birds do!

Hope you all have a great week!

In the Studio: Painting away...

Happy November everyone!

The October snow is finally melting away but the chilly air is here to stay. But it makes for a perfect setting to be painting away in the studio on our new Holiday collection for all of you to see very soon. We are planning to launch the collection soon after Thanksgiving.
Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to get your reminder emails.

And for anyone who lives in the area and wants to check out the collection early, we will be doing the first Holiday craft show of the season, on Saturday November 19th at the Wellesley Marketplace, here in MA.

Here is a little peek into a few designs we are working on....

Here we are in the very early painting stages of a jolly St. Nick design.


These fun cookie-inspired designs are new for us. We created a few for a cover of a Holiday magazine that we will share with you next week.

Have a great weekend!